Men Don't Change
by lil jake
Summary: But she’d been more than that. More than just a one-night stand, more than a warm body, and she thought that meant something. Just something. Not love, necessarily, but something. TONYPEPPER, I promise.


She didn't know how she could've been so stupid.

She didn't know how she could've been _so_ _stupid_.

She closed her blue eyes, but the image was burned into the back of her eyelids. _Him_, sweaty, panting and naked, on top of _her_. Not even a _her_, actually, just a her. A nameless, vapid her, someone neither of them would remember come the dawn.

She should have realized, before she'd crossed that _stupid_ line and let him kiss her, let him touch her, and let him make her fall in love. She should have realized.

It wasn't like this was anything new. Far from it, actually. He had always been a playboy—and now she realized, he always would be. His life had been such an easy one of fast cars and beautiful women, and her life—well her life had been an easy one too, with him around.

But there'd been that one moment.

Almost a year ago, now, when he'd first looked at her like _that_…when he'd first held her at some anonymous gala ball, and danced with her like she was the only woman he'd ever look at for the rest of his life. And they'd been so close, for so long, that she had dared, if just for a second, to think that maybe he'd changed. Or that, maybe she could make him change.

She bit back a bitter laugh as her mother's words played through her mind, _Never assume you can make a man change_.

But then, weeks after that dance, he'd softly kissed her in the moonlight. And there was a passion, a burning in his kiss that made her believe.

Now she realized that probably every woman he'd ever been with had also _believed_.

But she'd been more than that.

More than just a one-night stand, more than a warm body, and she thought that meant something.

Just something.

Not love, necessarily, but _something_.

But apparently _something_ wasn't enough. Not when a leggy blonde with California tits and sweet Bacardi breath was standing in his way.

She rolled over on the lush cotton sheets, and blinked away tears. She curled up slightly on her side, brushing brilliant red bangs out of her long, wet mascara-soaked lashes, and choked on a sob.

-

_Knock, knock_.

"Go away," she muttered, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

_Knock, knock, knock_.

"Honey, are you okay?"

"Go away."

"Let me in."

"I don't want to talk to you right now. I'm fine."

_Knock, knock, knockknockknockknockknockknock!_

She groaned. If there was anything Tony Stark wasn't, it was patient. She glared at the door. "I'm fine. Leave me alone."

-

Tony sighed on the other side of the oak door. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and contemplated it.

"No." A female voice whispered in his ear. "Don't break down the door."

He felt two slender arms slide around his waist from behind. He trailed a finger up one of the arms, contemplatively, and pouted. "She won't talk to me."

"She'll be fine."

She began to kiss his neck, leaving a soft, wet trail, and it was all he could do not to moan. "Come back to bed," she whispered, "You can talk to her in the morning."

"But she's upset!"

"She'll get over it."

"But what if she doesn't? She's not as tough as she acts."

"She wants to be left alone, understandably, right now. Let's leave her alone and you can talk to her in the morning. It's a lot to process."

-

Tony turned around and faced her. Bright blue eyes looked up at him, one eyebrow delicately raised. He narrowed his eyes.

"Pepper, what do you know that I don't."

Pepper Stark sighed, placing one hand on her slender hip, "It's not a big deal, Tony, she thinks she's in love but she's only fifteen. She'll get over it, and move on, and I always thought that Williams boy was bad for her any—"

Pepper paused at the look on Tony's face. "Tony." She warned.

He pulled back and peered at her. "You know what happened," he accused, "She told you what happened!"

"I'm her mother."

"So? That's not fair!" Tony turned back around and pounded on the door, "Jessica Stark, open this door! What the hell happened!"

A scream of frustration erupted from the room, "Dad, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

"That's it," Tony muttered, putting both hands on Pepper's waist and gently moving her to the side.

A thought flashed through Pepper's mind and she reached out, grabbing Tony's wrist. And hell, he might've been Iron Man but his wife had an iron grip.

"No, Tony," she said, dragging him back to their bedroom, "You may not kill Jason Williams with an untraceable homing missile launched from a top-secret military checkpoint several miles from our home. I'm not raising a teenage girl by myself."

"But Pepper," Tony whined, "The key word there is _untraceable_. And it's not like I'd go to prison _anyway_. Training exercises go faulty _all the damn time_."

-

A/N. I felt guilty about not updating Light Up the Sky so I literally wrote this in like...ten minutes. I figured, random lil jake babble is better than nothing? Or something like that. Ah, the overdrama of teenage love. Really, feel free to review...


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